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2 Wild Workouts

Published: Monday, April 8, 2013 at 5:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, April 7, 2013 at 4:08 p.m.

Here's a look at selected health and fitness books currently in stores or online:

"The cLEAN Momma Workout," Carolyn Barnes (William Morrow, $16.99)

To use author Carolyn Barnes' phrase, a sick child served as her proverbial light bulb.

"I was totally overwhelmed and in chaos," says Barnes, a former "ballerina bun-head" (her phrase) and current Pilates instructor who lives in California. "I had a 3-year-old who was calling 'Mommy Mommy Mommy' and a son who was nursing. I couldn't carve out time for myself, and I'd look around the house and it was chaos."

Then — let there be light! — her son "upchucked in the kitchen."

"I was cleaning it up while holding him," she said by phone from California. "I put him in the swing, did the 'rag drag' and it all morphed into an amazing cardio workout I started to do while my kids were in the bathtub and I was hanging out there anyway."

She began scrubbing sinks with a vengeance and floors with fervor. What began as housework became the "cupboard calf-raise," "the vacuum lunge," "the laundry leg-lift."

"I've taken the concept of dance, of muscle isolation and applied it to times I was cleaning the countertops, which we do as mommies a million times a day," says Barnes, 41. "I'd wipe them down, engage my core, use a good dancer's posture. I noticed my body going back into dancer body mode. I felt my strength come back. My ab work and core were so tight so fast, much more so than when I'd had my daughter. My core went — woo!"

After four or five months of heavy-duty housework and being more mindful of her eating habits, she'd lost 60 pounds. She was as toned, she says, as she'd been during her dancing days.

"This is excuse-proof! No excuses, people," Barnes says. "When they're doing these things and understand the position of their bodies, their shoulders, they're going to start carrying themselves differently. Self-esteem goes up. It's like putting on high heels." She encourages constant movement throughout the day and thus, keeping metabolism humming. Going to Target? Do squats in the guise of looking at prices on the lowest shelf. Or take a container of apple juice and (looking behind you first) use it to do arm kickbacks. "If you're on the phone, do you really know I'm doing my leg lifts?" she asks, adding she's doing squats while we're talking. "Or if you're texting, does anybody know you're in squat position? "It's a mind-set. Clean out your body, your mind, your soul, your house," she says.

TIPS FROM THE "CLEAN MOMMA":

- Master the countertop push-up. Arms tone quickly, and often that's the quick-start needed to — oh, go mop the floor with added vigor or something. "You're going in and out, back and forth, to and from the kitchen," she says. "Do 10 push-ups each time. It's overwhelming to say, 'Do 200 push-ups.' But doing 10 at a time adds up."

- Do the rag drag. Put two damp rags under each foot. Get into plie position so your core is fully engaged. Bring your right foot in and out five to seven times, creating resistance. Switch feet. "Instead of being on your hands and knees and picking at gunk with a fork because you're irritated and annoyed, you're like, 'C'mon! Spill some more!' " she says.

- Make the most of desk time. Every time you check email or go on Facebook, do this: Sitting straight with shoulders down, put your hands on your desk. Push down on the surface, raising your knees up and down, your abs tight. Don't touch the floor. Repeat 10 to 15 times.

Hanne Blank began exercising to combat side effects from medication she was taking for a syndrome that affected her

body's use of insulin.

"I'm trained as a historian on medical and sexual history," she says by phone from Atlanta. "I was slugging my way through insulin research and what works to improve insulin resistance," she says by phone from Atlanta. "What has the best track record is regular, moderate-intensity, sustained exercise. I thought, 'Well, it can't hurt. It might help.' "

It did help. Six years later, she doesn't take medication for her syndrome. She exercises every day, sometimes twice a day. And she is, she says as comfortably as she would say she has brown hair, fat.

"I get the question a lot, 'How come you haven't lost weight?' Well, because I don't," Blank says. "There are a lot of people who get a lot of movement in their lives and who are still fat because that's how their bodies are. There's this feeling that the default state for human beings is slender, but there's no proof that's true."

As a medical historian, she says, she's learned that health and visible muscle weren't always sought after. People who were muscular used to be those who had to do heavy labor. Then as low-paying jobs became more sedentary — factory work, for instance — wealthier people began working out, showing they had time to train their bodies. "Being ripped is a fairly new idea," says Blank, who started several exercise programs through the years, thinking she'd lose weight.

"I had to stop thinking this was going to make my body look different," she says. "Once you let go of that expectation, you get all this other fun stuff, which is a lot more enjoyable and rewarding than standing there after sweating 45 minutes on an elliptical trainer hoping your weight is a half-point less. It's horrible and punitive."

She's all about the fun in working out. "The freedom to play freely in the world, to move through the world, is a birthright," she says. "No one should take that away from you, no matter what your size or what you look like. "It's not about fat or thin. It's about strong, and do you have the muscle," she says.

TIPS FROM THE "UNAPOLOGETIC FAT GIRL":

- Drop the negative thoughts. Nix those that say "You shouldn't enjoy sex or food or being in the world or going to the beach," Blank says. "Yeah you can do and enjoy all the physical things you want and run with that ball in ways I think are really gorgeous." She knows fat women who rock climb, practice yoga and participate in all sorts of activities.

- Set a goal of 100 days. Pick an activity and do it every other day for 100 days, she says. "If you want to decide to walk to the mailbox and mail a postcard for 100 days, that's great. If you get to 100 days and don't want to see another postcard, that's OK. But you're in the habit of doing something. You've set an achievable goal."

- Skip the gym where you don't feel comfortable. If trainers stress weight loss when you just want to be more flexible and strong, it's probably not the place for you.

<p>Here's a look at selected health and fitness books currently in stores or online:</p><p><b>"The cLEAN Momma Workout," Carolyn Barnes (William Morrow, $16.99)</b> </p><p>To use author Carolyn Barnes' phrase, a sick child served as her proverbial light bulb. </p><p>"I was totally overwhelmed and in chaos," says Barnes, a former "ballerina bun-head" (her phrase) and current Pilates instructor who lives in California. "I had a 3-year-old who was calling 'Mommy Mommy Mommy' and a son who was nursing. I couldn't carve out time for myself, and I'd look around the house and it was chaos." </p><p>Then &mdash; let there be light! &mdash; her son "upchucked in the kitchen." </p><p>"I was cleaning it up while holding him," she said by phone from California. "I put him in the swing, did the 'rag drag' and it all morphed into an amazing cardio workout I started to do while my kids were in the bathtub and I was hanging out there anyway." </p><p>She began scrubbing sinks with a vengeance and floors with fervor. What began as housework became the "cupboard calf-raise," "the vacuum lunge," "the laundry leg-lift." </p><p>"I've taken the concept of dance, of muscle isolation and applied it to times I was cleaning the countertops, which we do as mommies a million times a day," says Barnes, 41. "I'd wipe them down, engage my core, use a good dancer's posture. I noticed my body going back into dancer body mode. I felt my strength come back. My ab work and core were so tight so fast, much more so than when I'd had my daughter. My core went &mdash; woo!" </p><p>After four or five months of heavy-duty housework and being more mindful of her eating habits, she'd lost 60 pounds. She was as toned, she says, as she'd been during her dancing days. </p><p>"This is excuse-proof! No excuses, people," Barnes says. "When they're doing these things and understand the position of their bodies, their shoulders, they're going to start carrying themselves differently. Self-esteem goes up. It's like putting on high heels." She encourages constant movement throughout the day and thus, keeping metabolism humming. Going to Target? Do squats in the guise of looking at prices on the lowest shelf. Or take a container of apple juice and (looking behind you first) use it to do arm kickbacks. "If you're on the phone, do you really know I'm doing my leg lifts?" she asks, adding she's doing squats while we're talking. "Or if you're texting, does anybody know you're in squat position? "It's a mind-set. Clean out your body, your mind, your soul, your house," she says.</p><p><b>TIPS FROM THE "CLEAN MOMMA":</b></p><p><b>- </b>Master the countertop push-up. Arms tone quickly, and often that's the quick-start needed to &mdash; oh, go mop the floor with added vigor or something. "You're going in and out, back and forth, to and from the kitchen," she says. "Do 10 push-ups each time. It's overwhelming to say, 'Do 200 push-ups.' But doing 10 at a time adds up."</p><p><b>- </b>Do the rag drag. Put two damp rags under each foot. Get into plie position so your core is fully engaged. Bring your right foot in and out five to seven times, creating resistance. Switch feet. "Instead of being on your hands and knees and picking at gunk with a fork because you're irritated and annoyed, you're like, 'C'mon! Spill some more!' " she says.</p><p><b>- </b>Make the most of desk time. Every time you check email or go on Facebook, do this: Sitting straight with shoulders down, put your hands on your desk. Push down on the surface, raising your knees up and down, your abs tight. Don't touch the floor. Repeat 10 to 15 times.</p><p><b>"The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise And Other Incendiary Acts," Hanne Blank, (Ten Speed Press; $14.99)</p><p></b> </p><p></p><p>Hanne Blank began exercising to combat side effects from medication she was taking for a syndrome that affected her</p><p>body's use of insulin. </p><p>"I'm trained as a historian on medical and sexual history," she says by phone from Atlanta. "I was slugging my way through insulin research and what works to improve insulin resistance," she says by phone from Atlanta. "What has the best track record is regular, moderate-intensity, sustained exercise. I thought, 'Well, it can't hurt. It might help.' " </p><p>It did help. Six years later, she doesn't take medication for her syndrome. She exercises every day, sometimes twice a day. And she is, she says as comfortably as she would say she has brown hair, fat. </p><p>"I get the question a lot, 'How come you haven't lost weight?' Well, because I don't," Blank says. "There are a lot of people who get a lot of movement in their lives and who are still fat because that's how their bodies are. There's this feeling that the default state for human beings is slender, but there's no proof that's true." </p><p>As a medical historian, she says, she's learned that health and visible muscle weren't always sought after. People who were muscular used to be those who had to do heavy labor. Then as low-paying jobs became more sedentary &mdash; factory work, for instance &mdash; wealthier people began working out, showing they had time to train their bodies. "Being ripped is a fairly new idea," says Blank, who started several exercise programs through the years, thinking she'd lose weight. </p><p>"I had to stop thinking this was going to make my body look different," she says. "Once you let go of that expectation, you get all this other fun stuff, which is a lot more enjoyable and rewarding than standing there after sweating 45 minutes on an elliptical trainer hoping your weight is a half-point less. It's horrible and punitive." </p><p>She's all about the fun in working out. "The freedom to play freely in the world, to move through the world, is a birthright," she says. "No one should take that away from you, no matter what your size or what you look like. "It's not about fat or thin. It's about strong, and do you have the muscle," she says.</p><p><b>TIPS FROM THE "UNAPOLOGETIC FAT GIRL":</b></p><p><b>- </b>Drop the negative thoughts. Nix those that say "You shouldn't enjoy sex or food or being in the world or going to the beach," Blank says. "Yeah you can do and enjoy all the physical things you want and run with that ball in ways I think are really gorgeous." She knows fat women who rock climb, practice yoga and participate in all sorts of activities.</p><p><b>- </b>Set a goal of 100 days. Pick an activity and do it every other day for 100 days, she says. "If you want to decide to walk to the mailbox and mail a postcard for 100 days, that's great. If you get to 100 days and don't want to see another postcard, that's OK. But you're in the habit of doing something. You've set an achievable goal."</p><p><b>- </b>Skip the gym where you don't feel comfortable. If trainers stress weight loss when you just want to be more flexible and strong, it's probably not the place for you.</p>